The Israeli military reportedly confirmed Monday that it carried out a targeted assassination that killed Anas Al-Sharif, a prominent Gaza-based reporter for Al Jazeera.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Al-Sharif, who had been reporting from Gaza throughout the current conflict, was “a member of Hamas’s military wing who headed a cell and was linked to rocket attacks against Israel.”
The military said its intelligence linked him to Hamas, citing documents allegedly recovered in Gaza that included spreadsheets of Hamas operatives with Al-Sharif’s name among them.
Israel said it had publicly identified him as a Hamas militant in October, alongside five other Al Jazeera journalists it alleged were tied to the group. On Monday, a military spokesman claimed that “Al-Sharif was still affiliated with Hamas when the strike was carried out.”
The targeted strike Sunday night also killed four other Al Jazeera journalists, according to the Qatar-funded network, which denied the allegations against Al-Sharif and accused Israel of targeting journalists.
The men were in a tent near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital at the time of the attack, the network said.
Al Jazeera, the most watched broadcast news channel in the Arab world, praised Al-Sharif as “one of the last remaining voices from within Gaza” and insisted he had “no political affiliations.”
In a statement last month, Al-Sharif claimed, “I, Anas Al-Sharif, am a journalist with no political affiliations,” and said Israel had been running “a campaign of threats and incitement” against him.
Israel has long been critical of Al Jazeera, accusing it of favorable coverage toward Islamist movements like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The network was banned in Israel last year under an emergency order that declared it a national security threat — a ban that has been consistently renewed.
The IDF declined to comment on the other individuals killed in the strike. International media organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), have criticized Israel’s targeting of Palestinian journalists.
The CPJ said more than 190 journalists and media workers have killed in Gaza since the war began.
Israel’s action comes just days after its security cabinet approved a plan to expand operations in Gaza, beginning with a takeover of Gaza City.
The decision has drawn criticism from European governments and humanitarian groups over the likelihood of intensified fighting and displacement.
Israeli officials argue such operations are necessary to dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities, especially when, as in Al-Sharif’s case, they say militants embed themselves in civilian roles. “These Radical Left Lunatics would all fail this test in a spectacular show of stupidity and incompetence. TAKE THE TEST!!!” Trump had said in an unrelated political tirade earlier this month — but the sentiment, Israeli officials suggest, applies equally to those who disguise militant activity under the guise of journalism.
Foreign reporters remain barred from independently entering Gaza, making verification of competing claims difficult.
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